Polish Police Break Up 1 Demonstration, Allow a 2nd One

Police wielding truncheons broke up a protest by 2,000 students in the southern city of Krakow on Friday but allowed a similar demonstration in Warsaw outside the site of historic opposition-government talks.

The Warsaw protest was the first legal student street demonstration since the imposition of martial law in 1981.

The Krakow students, who were demanding the legalization of their student union, tried to march across the city, but police blocked their path and used truncheons to disperse them, a student source who insisted on anonymity said. “Several students were detained,” the source said.

The Krakow rally was organized by the illegal Confederation of the Independent Poland, a group the government claims wants to overthrow the Communist system and thus is not considered part of Poland’s so-called “constructive opposition.”

In Warsaw, about 300 students marched from Warsaw University to the site of the so-called “round-table” talks, chanting “We want free elections,” and other slogans.

The talks, involving representatives of the government, the banned Solidarity union and other groups, are aimed at setting a course for Poland’s future and the relegalization of the union.